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Annotate
Annotation is a core feature of H2O.
Law professors typically want students to focus on particular portions of assigned cases or texts. They typically don't want students to read every word of every case. In the print world, this means cases are edited down heavily to fit the author's preferences. Unfortunately, this heavy editing is controlled entirely by the author prior to publication. Professors who adopt the book for their courses can't customize the edits. And students can't access the missing text without doing a lot of extra work.
Law students use close, purposeful, systematic reading techniques to analyze cases. It's common, for example, for students to mark up different parts of a case to identify the parties, issue(s), facts, key arguments and the court's holding, to record their questions and reactions, and to note connections to other resources. In the print world, students often use multi-color highlighting and notes in the margins, as well as post-it flags/notes.
Law professors sometimes wish to provide students with commentary and context as they read assigned cases. In the print-only world, where the publisher and book author control the text, this is difficult.
H2O lets people annotate cases and other texts. Annotations take four forms: (1) hiding text, (2) highlighting text, (3) commenting on text and (4) linking text to other materials.
To annotate a case, users have to clone it first to create a copy that they own, control and can annotate all they want.
People who want to edit cases down from the full-length original can hide unwanted text.
First, select the unwanted text. Second, pick either the "hide" or the "replace text" icon. The "replace text" icon substitutes the selected text with the user's text.
H2O hides the selected text, replacing it with an ellipsis. Other users can click on the ellipsis to reveal the hidden text.
People who want to draw attention to, or 'color-code' sections of cases or texts, can use the highlight function.
First, select the text. Second, pick "highlight." The selected text is now highlighted yellow.
People who want to add a comment or note to cases can use the Add a Note function cases down from the full-length original can hide unwanted text.
First, select the text to be commented on. Second, select "Add a note." This will present a field you can type your comment in. This will place a paperclip on the margin, which can be clicked on to reveal the comment.
People who want to add a link to the web on text can do so with the Add a Link function.
First, select the text you wish to have the link applied to. Second, select "add a link" and enter the URL you wish to include.
This will place a paperclip on the margin, which can be clicked on to reveal the comment.